Liege Revolution
The Liège Revolution ( French La Révolution liégeoise , Walloon Revolucion lidjwesse ou Binamêye revolucion ) was an uprising movement that was directed against the Prince-Bishop Caesar Konstantin Franz von Hoensbroech of the Principality of Liège in 1789 . It was put down by the Imperial Army on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire in early 1791 .
Causes and course
As in France, poor harvests and a severe winter of 1788/89 led to a sharp rise in food prices. This intensified structural dissatisfaction in Liège, such as the tax exemption for the nobility and clergy. These had already led to dissatisfaction in previous years. In addition, intellectuals like Jean-Nicolas Bassenge complained about the lack of political influence of the nobility and bourgeoisie. Only the cathedral chapter had political influence over the prince-bishop.
Influenced by news of the storming of the Bastille in Paris, protesting citizens broke into the Liege City Hall on August 18, 1789. They penetrated the meeting of the city council and installed new mayors. After that, the city's citadel was stormed. The prisoners there were freed and the fortress occupied. The incumbent Prince-Bishop Konstantin-Franz von Hoensbroeck was forced to sign a declaration, which he interpreted as disempowerment. The bishop left the city and fled to Trier .
In the summer of 1789, the protagonists of the revolution did not initially orientate themselves towards modern republican ideas, but tried to tie in with the medieval constitution of the estates . It was necessary to reverse the disempowerment of the third estate, which was carried out in the 17th century. Therefore the intention was to reintroduce the constitution of 1316, slightly modified. The development did not stop there. The revolutionary French writings were reprinted and received in Liège. Not least because of this, there was a tendency towards a constitutional system . Finally, the farmers of the surrounding area were also included.
Reaction of the empire
As part of the Holy Roman Empire, its otherwise clumsy institutions reacted quickly. As early as August 27, 1789, the Imperial Court of Justice in Wetzlar instructed the responsible Lower Rhine-Westphalian Imperial District to restore the old order by force, if necessary. The deposed officials were to be reinstated and the leaders of the revolt arrested. The electors Maximilian Franz of Austria for Electorate of Cologne , Carl Theodor of Bavaria for the Electoral Palatinate and Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia in his capacity as sovereign of the Duchy of Kleve and the County of Mark were commissioned with this .
The latter's agent was Christian Konrad Wilhelm von Dohm . However, this had already shown sympathy for liberal ideas. He was one of the drafters of a constitution for the imperial city of Aachen , but this failed in this form at the imperial court. He therefore tried to avoid violent action and to mediate between the conflicting parties. At first this was supported by the Prussian Foreign Minister Count Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg , who hoped to be able to weaken Austria. There were also fears in Berlin that after the suppression of the revolution, the diocese of Liège could fall to the Austrian-born Elector of Cologne.
But when there were signs of a merger between the Liège and the Brabant Revolution and rumors surfaced about military preparations on the part of the revolutionaries, the plenipotentiaries of the Palatinate and Kurkölns demanded the use of the military. Just to satisfy the demands, on November 30th, Palatine and Prussian troops as well as units from the Duchy of Munster , the Duchy of Jülich and Kurmainz marched into Liège area under Prussian command. The town itself was not occupied and the troops withdrew six months later. Then the Prussians were enthusiastically celebrated by the Liège. German revolutionaries like Georg Forster were also impressed by Dohm's policies.
Suppression of the revolution
The Prussian government tried to justify itself to the European courts with the Note sur l'affaire de Liège . The Reich Chamber of Commerce continued to push for its ruling to be carried out. On the other hand, Dohm wrote a justification. The revolutionaries in Liège established direct links with the French National Assembly in July 1790 and asked for support.
With the Reichenbacher Convention of 1790 a phase of cooperation between Prussia and Austria began. With the dismissal of the Prussian foreign minister Hertzberg, Dohm and the revolutionaries in Liège lost the secret support from Berlin.
At the beginning of 1791 imperial troops again marched into the Liège territory and occupied the city. After the Prince-Bishop returned on February 13, 1791, the leaders of the revolution were arrested and the absolutist regime restored. However, Liège was occupied by French troops in November 1791.
swell
- The Alff Collection: Digitized pamphlets on the Brabant and Liège Revolution in the University and City Library of Cologne
- Most important files on the history of the Liège riots. In: Magazine for history, statistics, literature and topography of all German spiritual states 1 (1790) - digitized
literature
- Simon Reuter: Revolution and Reaction in the Reich. The intervention in the diocese of Liège 1789–1791 . Aschendorff Verlag, Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-402-14663-7 .
- Wilhelm Ribhegge: Prussia in the West. Struggle for parliamentarism in Rhineland and Westphalia . Münster 2008 (special edition for the state center for political education in North Rhine-Westphalia), p. 3f.
